GLY 1001 Earth Science
Chapter 22 Vocabulary
:
1.
Asteroid – thousands of small planet-like
bodies, ranging in size from a few hundred kilometers to less than a kilometer,
whose orbits are mainly between those of Mars and Jupiter.
Coma – The fuzzy, gaseous component of a comet’s head.
2.
Comet -
A small body that generally revolves around the Sun in an
elongated orbit.
Escape
velocity – The initial velocity an object
needs to escape from the surface od
a celestial body.
3.
Inner planets - Any of the Earth-like planets,
including Mercury, Venus, mars and Earth.
Iron
meteorite – One of the three main categories
of meteorites. This group is composed largely of iron with varying amounts of nickel (5-20%).Most
meteorite finds are of this type.
4.
Jovian planets – Jupiter-like
planets: Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn which have very low densities.
5.
Kuiper belt – A region outside
the orbit of
Lunar
highlands – The extensively cratered
highlands of the Moon.
Lunar
regolith – A thin gray layer
on the surface of the Moon, consisting ofloosely
compacted, fragmented material believed to have been formed by the repeated
meteorite impacts.
Maria – The Latin name for the smooth areas of the Moon formerly thought to
be seas.
6.
Meteor – The luminous phenomenon observed when a meteoroid
enters Earth’s atmosphere and burns up
7.
Meteorite – Any portion of a meteoroid that
survives the traverse through Earth’s atmosphere and strikes the Earth’s
surface
8.
Meteoroid - Small solid particles that have orbits
in the solar system
Meteor
shower – Many meteors appearing in the sky caused when
Earth intercepts a swarm of meteoritic particles.
Oort cloud – A spherical shell composed of comets that orbit the Sun at distances
generally greater than 10,000 times the Earth-Sun distance.
9.
Outer planets – Jupiter-like planets: Jupiter,
Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn which have very low densities.
Stony-iron
meteorite – One of the three main categories of
meteorites. This group, as the name implies, is
a mixture of iron and silicate minerals.
Stony-meteorite – One of the three categories of meteorites. Such meteorites are
composed largely ofsilicate minerals
with inclusions of other minerals.
Terrae - The
extensively cratered highlands of the Moon.
10.
Terrestrial planet - Any of the Earth-like planets,
including Mercury, Venus, mars and Earth.